Riyadh — Mubasher: Saudi Arabia’s National Aquaculture Group (NAQUA) has signed a frozen shrimp export deal with China, adding a new commodity to the kingdom’s oil-heavy trade with the Asian nation.
NAQUA, the only Saudi company exporting shrimp to Beijing, has shipped 6,000 tonnes of the crustaceans to China since last week, the group’s CEO Ahmed Al-Bala’a said.
The shipment volume is modest, but it's “tasty step toward diversifying sales” to one of the GCC nation’s biggest trade partners, Bloomberg reported.
“The emerging trade represents more than a new source of shellfish for the world’s most populous nation. Saudi Arabia is testing the waters in China for shrimp as it seeks to reduce its reliance on oil and develop new industries and lines of business,” it added.
The Saudi shrimp farms operator plans to increase shipments to 80,000 tonnes by 2020, generating as much as SAR 2 billion ($533 million) in revenue, as a result of an agreement the two countries signed in November, the state-owned Saudi Press Agency previously reported.
Saudi Arabia’s crude exports to China soared on 3 December to the highest daily level in 23 months, according to Bloomberg data tracking.
China makes up about 15% of Saudi crude sales this year, data showed.
China consumes more shrimp than any other Asian nation. As one of that region’s biggest producers, Chinese seafood output has recently fallen due to disease and poor weather, according to the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization.
